Rattan furniture



(No Model.)

E. L. 'TAFT.

RATTAN FURNITURE} I No. 414,784. Patented Nov. 12, 1889.

QWtmooeo 814 ocmfoz UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDXVARD L. TAFT, OF GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO IIEN RY MURDOCK RICH, OF SAME PLACE.

RATTAN FURNITURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 414,784, dated November 12, 1889.

Application filed March 12, 1889.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD LOVELL TAFT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gardner, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rattan Furniture, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings, forming a part of the same, and which represent a portion of a chair-back embodying my invention.

Figure 1 represents a portion of the framework of the chair, with a portion of the knit rattan fabric attached thereto. Fig. 2 represents a section on line X X, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 represents a section on line X X, Fig. 1, with a slight modification, coming, however, within the scope of my present invention.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the different views.

My invention relates more-especially to that class of rattan furniture in which a knit fabric is attached to the frame-work; and it has for its object to improve the appearance of the finished furniture and increase the strength of the united parts by means of the construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the annexed claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which represent only so much of a chair-back as is necessary to illustrate my invention, A denotes a portion of the cross-rail extending across the chair-back from one of the posts to the other. B denotes a portion of the knit fabric as it is stretched across the space inclosed by the frame of the chair-back. The bent section 0 of each of the loops of the knit fabric is attached to the rail by means of a nail or pin a, Figs. 2 and 3, the knit fabric lying in a plane coincident with the center of the rail A or other section of the frame to which-it is attached. Upon each side of the bent portions 0 of the loops attached to the frame I place strips D D, of rattan, whose diameter is as great as that of the bent section of the loops attached to the frame. These strips I attach to the frame by means of nails or pins with the loops of the knit fabric lying between them, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The frame-work is then wound with a strip E of winding rattan in the usual manner, the

.. the lateral movement of the loops.

Serial No. 303,054. (No model.)

winding strip E being carried around the rail A and the strips D D lying parallel with it, the winding strips also passing through the loops at b b, Fig. 1. By means of the longitudinal strips D D the winding strip E is raised from the rail A in the spaces (Z d between the loops of the knit fabric a distance at least equal to the thickness of the section 0 of the loops, and producing thereby an approximately straight edge at e 6 parallel with the rail A, and also preventing an open space at ff in the coils of the Winding strip; which occurs by the usual method of winding without the use of the longitudinal strips D D.

By the use of two strips D D, one upon each side of the bent sections of the loops attached to the rail A, a straight edge is presented upon both sides of the furniture. This result is not of so much importance upon the back side of the furniture as upon the front side, and therefore one of the longitudinal strips can be omitted, using only one upon the front side, as shown in Fig. 2.

. I have shown only a part of the rail A with .a section of the knit fabric attached thereto bythe bent portions of the loops; but the use of the longitudinal strips D D is equally adapted to the posts or other portions of the frame and to the sides of the loops, as well as to the bent sections, their purpose being to raise the winding strip E from the frame in the spaces between the loops of the knit fabric, in order to produce the appearance of a straight edge after the winding strip E is wound around the frame and through the edge loops attached to the frame. I prefer, however, to use two strips D D, one upon each side of the loops, as shownin Fig. 3, in order to render the joint between the loops and the frame more rigid and secure and preventing This is accomplished by the longitudinal strips D D lying in contact with the sides of the bent sections 0 of the loops, and being drawn toward them by the strain imparted by the Winding strips E. The attached portions of each loop is thus held in a groove or channel, and the loops are thereby held from turning upon their attaching pins or nails.

' I do not herein claim the use of a groove or channel, broadly, as such was shown in Let ters Patent No. 323,206, granted to llenry Murdock Rich on the 28th day of July, 1885; neither do I claim the use of a strip placed parallel with the frameand upon the portions of loops attached to the fran'ie-worli', said strips lying upon the loops, which are held between the frame-work and the longitudinal strip; but

\Vhat I do claim as my present invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a supporting-bar forming a portion of the frame-Work and a knit fabric attached by its edge loops to said bar, of a longitudinal strip placed parallel with said supporting-bar and at the side of the attached portions of the loops of the knit fabric, and a Winding strip inclosing said supporting-bar and longitudinal strips and passin g through said attached loops, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a supporting-lair forming a portion of the frame-Work and a knit fabric attached by its edge loops to said bar, of longitudinal strips placed parallel with said bar and against the sides and in contact with the portions of the loops of the knit fabric, which are attached to the bar, and a winding strip inclosing said bar and said longitudinal strips and passing through the attached loops of the fabric, substantially 30 as described.

ED\VART) L. 'IA'F'l.

Witnesses:

RALPH W. BLAcK, EDWARD M. ELLIs. 

